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Hello all .....
I recently purchased a BB Outlow , 810 Briggs ,61 in cut mower.......
Compared to my old John Deere 316 the bad boy is VERY nice.
Im not a professional mower but I like a nice yard .
we have roughly 6 acres , about 3.5 of that is fenced in pasture for the wifes horse , the rest (2.5) I mow ,
it's all different terrain. .
Some nice and flat, some mean inclines leading to basement entrance.
I have no idea what kind of grass I have [hopefully I will find out from this forum)
But we live out in the sticks and have lots of trees to mow around couple road ditches (mole problem)
Entire pasture is mowed 2 rows on the inside and of course I have to mow up again the fence while mowing the yard
The new mower makes short work of it compared to the ol John deere 316
Don't get me wrong ...... The ol deere was a good lawn tractor but the bad boy runs circles around it
When it comes to mowing.
Couple things ....
When I first started mowing with the bad boy of course it takes some getting used to.
Learned pretty fast.
Initially I had it set on 2 in cut .....
Not sure of it was cutting 2 in but I didn't like the height of the grass so I lowered it to 1.5 and raised the mower up on jack stands
And moved the deck wheels up one bolt hole all the way around
Mostly because just lowering the pin to 1.5 still didn't give me the cut I wanted ......
Now it gives me the height of cut I like.
Sometimes, it scalps a spot or two due to some of the terrain around the yard
But on the main flats it gives me the cut I like .
The mower is comfortable. ... Although I wish I could swing the fancy seat the factory one will work .
I just now have 23 hrs on her
I mow minimum of once a week and power wash her after every 2nd mow
I recently got a little cocky with it and took it out to the center of the uncut pasture and mowed my boys a circle
To ride their new 50cc motorcycle with training wheels so as they don't hit anything in the yard .
I'll admit .... mower probably want made for 3 foot tall horse pasture ...
But I raised deck to 2 in and went slow and although it was working hard
it left an Unbelievable cut and was perfect for the boys to ride their beginner motorcycles.
I'll be honest. ...getting used to the mower I've made a couple grave errors
I first mowed with the roll bar up .well . Cause I didn't know any better
I quickly snagged a tree limb with the roll bar and raised the front of the mower up pretty
High quickly. ....enuf to make me pucker , and put the roll bar in the Dow position
I did accidentally turn blades on while over the gravel drive way (brain fart of the yr)
but like I say I'm new to it so still getting used to it .
I can literally mow the main yard in an hr or so which used to take 2 , 3 hr days and
lots off steering on the ol deere
I really like this mower
There are a couple thing I don't like about it.
Traction .....
I have a few places that stay "damp" and the 2 grades leading to the basement
Are difficult to navigate because it just doesn't hook up ..
Maybe I'm still learning the lever steering system
But I think it does lack a little in the traction department.
The 60 in deck is unbelievably built
sometimes I rub a wood fence post with it and I swear it's gonna snap it off at the ground, but it being 60 in leves a Wierd cut sometimes
In road ditches, kinda like the deck is to large for the ditch ,I've tried angle into the ditch both directions to kinda V it out but sometimes it Still leves a line ...
I just mowed Friday and it was the first time I mowed since mowing the pasture
I noticed for the first time it didn't leve as nice of a cut ...
I'm guessing between me engaging blades over gravel and mowing a pasture I should not have dulled the blades .
I ordered some new ones from bad boy part online store
Hope to get those on this week before I gotta mow again. .
Ok I'll quit gabbing here
I joined this forum to learn all I can about the mower .mowing techniques, and every aspect of having as nice of a lawn as I can
Get ...
Any and all input both negative and positive is greatly appreciated. ..
Thank you
Samot

New to this trying to upload pics from my phone. .








I'll get a picture of the front soon as I can ........
Lot more than it looks like....

samot said:

New to this trying to upload pics from my phone. .
View attachment 21808

View attachment 21809

View attachment 21810

View attachment 21811

I'll get a picture of the front soon as I can ........
Lot more than it looks like....

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Congratulations on the new BB Outlaw. I almost pulled the trigger on a 54" Outlaw in 2012 myself. The dealer wanted to charge me an extra $250 for the ROPS(which I was led to believe came standard on the Outlaw according to Bad Boy), the engine choices were B & S or Kohler(and I wanted Kawasaki) and that massive 5gauge deck was too heavy for me to use the deck lift(I had polio that affected the muscle in my right leg). Aside from those drawbacks I was impressed with the build of the Outlaw. I made the dealer a counter offer, but the Gravely won the lowest price for a "Commercial grade" ZTR. Keep us informed of how you like it after using it a couple of seasons. I read some negative cut quality revies on the BB's in 2012, but it looks like yours is giving a very nice cut. Enjoy:0)

Excellent you are mowing on the pasture side of your fence we do that here as well, I also spray directly under the fences with Gly 4 Plus to eliminate the weed-eating and keep the grass out of the fence, but horses are really good about eating under the fence row, same grass in the pasture but I guess they just feel like it is forbidden grass and they go for it. LOL

We have high tensile wire just high enough I can get the deck under on both sides
Just weed eat around the poles !
Plus I have that little circle path mowed in the pasture for my 4yr old to practice on his 50 motorcycle with training wheels
And not. Hit anything. ..
When I went mower shopping
I intended to buy a John deere ZTR But everyone I looked at said " not a step "on the deck
And they just seemed flimsy like an ol mtd or craftsman. .
For 7k i didn't want flimsy
I took one look at the bad boy outlaws deck and decided (at least in my mind ) it would be
Better mower .
We shall see
I had to break out the ol 316 yesterday evening , while mowing the inside of the fence I ran the BB
Into 1 of 2 wet areas I have on the place
Tire just kept spinning toward high tensile wire every time I tried to move ......
Went and fired up the 316 and grabbed a tow Strap and pulled the BB rite out ....
Drug it out actually !
I only start the 316 once a month
So I'm considering getting rid of it
But I'll probably regret getting rid of it , it is definitely a good lawn tractor. ....

I have a question, it sounds like the dealer never tried to help you, what did they price you a Z model for?
Now I have seen the 920M right at 8k and for 1K more that is more mower than what you have.
If you have spent 2K more you would have gotten even more than that, so apparently you were not looking in the right places at JD mowers.

Honestly don't remember
It was a little more than the bad boy
However
The "salesmans" exact words were "the bad boys don't come In for repair but
The JDs do"
I bought the bad boy.........
Sales pitch ? Maybe. ..Probably. ...
Like I say this is the first ZTR I have ever bought. ...
In fact it's the first new mower I've ever bought. ...
I flipped the coin and went with the bad boy

samot said:

I mow minimum of once a week and power wash her after every 2nd mow

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Nice looking mower & property. Just a word of caution about power washing. Try to avoid spraying the hydros as from what I have read you certainly don't want any water contaminating the unit. I gently hose my mower off when needed and just use a blower around the hydros.

RetiredGuns said:

Nice looking mower & property. Just a word of caution about power washing. Try to avoid spraying the hydros as from what I have read you certainly don't want any water contaminating the unit. I gently hose my mower off when needed and just use a blower around the hydros.

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Good advice......water can be an enemy rather than a friend!!! Also, avoid spraying underneath the deck with a hose until the spindles have had a chance to cool off. After I clean the belly of my deck I run the mower with the blades engaged up and down my driveway several times to dry it out good before storing it to prevent the deck from rusting.

Good advice
Thanks guys ...
I always let it cool before power washing .
And i use the nozzle that has the least amount of pressure.
I've only sprayed the hydro motors (I'm guessing the ones under mower next to
Each rear wheel ) lightly, just to get the heavy stuff off
I'd like to keep it looks as good as I can
But of course I don't want to damage anything. ...
Question. .....
Is there a specific type blade I should be using ?
Like a mulching blade or something to obtain these definitive stripes
I'm seeing all over ?
To me I like the way it mows
Wife wants stripes .......
Uhg......
Wife wants stripes
Wife gets stripes ...

I'm sure you can buy or make a striping kit. Looking at Bad Boy accessories they sure have plenty of "stuff" Couldn't help but chuckle at the airfoil & chrome wheel covers!





Where's the flame decals? :wink:

This mower should stripe just fine with out a kit.
Not sure how you are mowing. Are you going back and forth.
Making one pass then turning around making next pass next to the first pass.

One other thing your not going to get nice stripes cutting too short as you do.
Inch and a half is to short to be cutting with a rotary mower.

If the grass is not as green after you mow as it was before you mow then you are cutting way to short.

samot said:

Good advice
Thanks guys ...
I always let it cool before power washing .
And i use the nozzle that has the least amount of pressure.
I've only sprayed the hydro motors (I'm guessing the ones under mower next to
Each rear wheel ) lightly, just to get the heavy stuff off
I'd like to keep it looks as good as I can
But of course I don't want to damage anything. ...
Question. .....
Is there a specific type blade I should be using ?
Like a mulching blade or something to obtain these definitive stripes
I'm seeing all over ?
To me I like the way it mows
Wife wants stripes .......
Uhg......
Wife wants stripes
Wife gets stripes ...

Click to expand...

Striping isn't difficult. The earlier post about cutting too low is accurate. Try cutting 2.5 to 3. Grass will green up and look more like a carpet. Mow back and forth instead of mowing outside in. Be careful though when turning around at the ends or you will make divets in your lawn. When you get to the end start backwards just a little before turning around to get both tires moving. This will prevent turf damage. If you just push one lever at the end to turn around it will drag the inside tire and make the divet. High lift blades are what usually come on commercial mowers and they should be fine. It doesn't hurt to have an extra set, but why don't you just take those off and sharpen them? Some manufacturers offer a stripping kit. It can be a roller mounted on the back of the deck, or a rubber flab bolted to the back of the deck (what I have on my snapper pro). Have no experience with the roller, but the rubber flap works ok.

I totally agree with you guys on 1.5 being to low ...
But at 2 in its like it hasn't even been cut
It does not look good to me at all. .....
I'll cut this evening on 2 in a spot and throw a tape measure on it to see just how tall the
Grass is .......
It is not to my liking at 2in
My grass isn't dying at 1.5
In fact I thought it looked pretty good? ?

samot said:

I totally agree with you guys on 1.5 being to low ...
But at 2 in its like it hasn't even been cut
It does not look good to me at all. .....
I'll cut this evening on 2 in a spot and throw a tape measure on it to see just how tall the
Grass is .......
It is not to my liking at 2in
My grass isn't dying at 1.5
In fact I thought it looked pretty good? ?

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Putting a tape measure on your lawn is a good idea. The deck may not have been properly set when it was assembled which would make the setting wrong, but you should not be having a problem with scalping unless it's cutting that low or the lawn is rough. Let us know if you are able to get your lawn striped. I didn't think of this earlier, but you mentioned you didn't know what type of grass you have. It's difficult to tell from the photos, but you can check with your local ag extension office or co-op and get some info. It may be that you have a type of grass that needs to be cut at around 2". As mentioned earlier though it's hard to stripe grass cut under 2".

Please understand that my yard ( I'm sure everyone's was at one time)
8 yrs ago was woods .
This is not a sod yard
It has never been aerated or rolled........
So it is not perfectly level
I'm surrounded by corn fields so some run offs kind of deform the ground in
Areas ....
Or and obviously Unlevel area
These farmers love to run drain tile
Which effects where water can run depending on the amount of rain .
Mower only scalps when a rear wheel hits one of those sunken in spots in the
Yard ......
Or
On the level areas ......
It is the perfect cut for me .
take a look at some of the pics in the first post

samot said:

Please understand that my yard ( I'm sure everyone's was at one time)
8 yrs ago was woods .
This is not a sod yard
It has never been aerated or rolled........
So it is not perfectly level
I'm surrounded by corn fields so some run offs kind of deform the ground in
Areas ....
Or and obviously Unlevel area
These farmers love to run drain tile
Which effects where water can run depending on the amount of rain .
Mower only scalps when a rear wheel hits one of those sunken in spots in the
Yard ......
Or
On the level areas ......
It is the perfect cut for me .
take a look at some of the pics in the first post

Click to expand...

I saw those photos. You have a great looking homestead. I too am surrounded by farm land, but I have a deep ditch surrounding my property that prevents the water run off from the farm land. Try mowing back and forth with the mower set as you have it and see if you get stripes.

samot said:

Good advice
Thanks guys ...
I always let it cool before power washing .
And i use the nozzle that has the least amount of pressure.
I've only sprayed the hydro motors (I'm guessing the ones under mower next to
Each rear wheel ) lightly, just to get the heavy stuff off
I'd like to keep it looks as good as I can
But of course I don't want to damage anything. ...
Question. .....
Is there a specific type blade I should be using ?
Like a mulching blade or something to obtain these definitive stripes
I'm seeing all over ?
To me I like the way it mows
Wife wants stripes .......
Uhg......
Wife wants stripes
Wife gets stripes ...

Click to expand...

I hear ya...I've got 56 hours on my Gravely and I've probably spent 200 hours cleaning it:0)

Some owners install mulch blades or Gator blades and continue to utilize the side discharge(or sometimes just add a plate to cover the discharge outlet. Personally, I recommend installing a complete mulch kit that usually includes vacuum baffles, discharge cover plate and mulch blades. I added the Gravely OEM mulch kit to my ZTR and grass clippings are non-exixtent after I'm finished mowing. The mulch kit is designed just for that and does not give any stripes.

Yipes.....stripes....everyone wants stripes!!!!! Tell the wife that to get those stripes...it's gonna cost her!! The 2012 Bad Boy catalog that I have shows a Striping Kit(appears to be a metal bar mounted behind the rear tires to the engine guard & frame that gets dragged behind the rear wheels). I don't see it listed under Accessories on the BB website so you may need to contact your dealer. I too am beginning to get into that(striping) and I have added a complete Gravely striping kit to my Pro-Turn 100 XDZ. This consists of a rubber flap that attaches to the rear of the deck and an hex-shaped roller that attaches to the frame underneath the engine behind the rear tires. I just spoke with Ariens Customer Support this morning because I was still not getting stripes that were as pronounced as I wanted. I had already tried something I had read about on the forums(and was described in my Owner Manual) called "heeling the deck". If you read your Owner Manual section on leveling the deck you will find that it gives instructions to measure the blade tips to a level surface on the outside of the deck(with the blades facing East/West) and adjust until they are identical(or within 1/16"). Then you position the blades North/South and set the front blade tip 1/8" - 1/4" lower than the rear blade tip(then recheck sides to make sure they are still "level". This "normal" deck setting gives a balance between cut quality and engine power required to cut the grass. When you "heel the deck" you change the last step(referred to as pitch) to where the rear blade tip is 1/8" to 1/4" lower than the front blade tip. This gives a slightly better quality cut, but requires a little more engine power to cut the grass. Also, since this procedure makes the rear edge of the deck slightly lower than the rear blade tip's cutting height it also produces a very slight striping effect. After discussing with Arien's CSR this morning, I will be changing my deck's pitch back to the normal forward pitch because they recommend that if you have a mulch kit installed. Striping is accomplished by "bending" the remaining grass blades after cutting, behind the deck in the direction you are travelling. When you change direction it will bend them the opposite direction. The "dark" and "light" strips you see when done are actually the sun's light reflecting off of the grass and depending on whether they are bent away from you or towards you determines whether they look "dark" or "light". Pretty scientific, huh:0)

Shughes717 said:

Putting a tape measure on your lawn is a good idea. The deck may not have been properly set when it was assembled which would make the setting wrong, but you should not be having a problem with scalping unless it's cutting that low or the lawn is rough. Let us know if you are able to get your lawn striped. I didn't think of this earlier, but you mentioned you didn't know what type of grass you have. It's difficult to tell from the photos, but you can check with your local ag extension office or co-op and get some info. It may be that you have a type of grass that needs to be cut at around 2". As mentioned earlier though it's hard to stripe grass cut under 2".

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samot,

The advice you're getting on cutting height to get good stripes is spot on!! I have mostly fescue with clover and some crabgrass:0( for my lawn. Even with a complete striping kit, I had been cutting at 2.5" with my deck heeled and not getting real "pronounced" stripes. Gravely recommended that I reset my deck pitch to the normal "forward pitch"(because I'm using a mulch kit) and to cut at 3" to get more pronounced stripes(the remaining grass blades have to be "tall enough" to bend...and stay bent... to reflect the sunlight properly for the dark/light striping look).

I too thought that cutting my lawn higher than 2" would make it look "uncut", but my father-in-law mows his at 4" with a Kubota ZTR and I must admit....it looks like a carpet!!! Ariens told me too many people cut their grass too short and for most grass types 2"-3" is the recommended minimum. It'll take a little getting used to cutting t a higher cutting height, but your grass will be healthier and if you continue cutting weekly it will "grow on you":0)

As an aside, you may want to find out what "type" grass you have. St. Augustine and other varieties are different than fescue or rye and user Ric posted a "chart" that showed recommended height ranges based upon grass type. I can't seem to find that thread right now:0(

Again, to get striping you would want to cut at the maximum recommended height for that grass type.

If you like how it cuts with the deck heeled why not just leave it and use the kit ?

The lighter stripes are the ones going away from you the darker ones are coming towards you.

As far as it having anything to do with the sun can not say yes or no. But stripes look good at night with no sun.

When you are looking at the lighter ones you are seeing the sides of the blades of grass.

Looking at the darker ones you see the blade tips.

If you want to keep the grass at a inch and half or shorter. A roller behind the rear wheels will give you the best stripes with no ugly tire lines. The roller should be on spring loaded arms.

On my own yard I use a toro greens master with a single front roller and double back rollers. I keep it at a half inch and cut every 3 or 4 days.

Lemme try some before and after pics.....


Front yard ....before and after. ....
No stripes really .....

samot said:

Lemme try some before and after pics.....<img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21868-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_135331-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21869-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_135409-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21870-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_150041-jpg"/> Front yard ....before and after. .... No stripes really ..... <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21871-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_153200-jpg"/>

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Man you have some nice looking grass. Stop scalping it. You are almost digging it up.

Bring it up a inch and it will look a lot better even if you don't stripe it.

Dang it
I'll try bringing it up to 2 in

Does this back yard look scalped ?


Same deck height ...mowed at same time

Does this back yard look scalped ?
View attachment 21872
View attachment 21873

samot said:

Does this back yard look scalped ? <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21872-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_170659-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachments/mower-equipment-operation/21873-new-guy-new-bad-boy-outlaw-810-a-20140702_152223-jpg"/>

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I think this looks good. Lots better then the front.
Don't know why it's looks better at the same height.
I have yards I have to cut the back and a side a half inch higher.

See....
That's what I don't get
The front is actually more flat than the back
Maybe it will is different type of grass ?

samot said:

See.... That's what I don't get The front is actually more flat than the back Maybe it will is different type of grass ?

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That could be.

I would just go up a half inch.
Try it for 2 cuttings worse thing that can happen is you don't like it and drop it back down.

Carscw said:

That could be.

I would just go up a half inch.
Try it for 2 cuttings worse thing that can happen is you don't like it and drop it back down.

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I agree, you will have to raise it some if you want to get stripes. Great looking lawn to have never been sodded.

samot said:

Does this back yard look scalped ?
View attachment 21872
View attachment 21873

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That BB is giving you a great looking cut!!! I agree with user Carscw that another half inch(cut at 2.5") will make it look even better and if you get a stripe kit try 2.5"....then try 3" and you'll have a cut that will make the wife happy!!

Thanks guys
Really glad I stumbled across this forum
Lots of good people with Good info...
So.....
I'm cheap .......
How hard would it be for a guy to make his own drag behind stripe kit ..
Like with some old conveyor belt ?

samot said:

Thanks guys
Really glad I stumbled across this forum
Lots of good people with Good info...
So.....
I'm cheap .......
How hard would it be for a guy to make his own drag behind stripe kit ..
Like with some old conveyor belt ?

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Looks pretty simple. Does the back of the deck already have holes for a stripe kit? If so all you would need is measurements from another mower, punch some holes and bolt it on. May even be able to cut a piece out of a rubber truck bed liner

samot said:

Thanks guys
Really glad I stumbled across this forum
Lots of good people with Good info...
So.....
I'm cheap .......
How hard would it be for a guy to make his own drag behind stripe kit ..
Like with some old conveyor belt ?

Click to expand...

Several users have implemented their own homemade versions of striping kits. Check out the thread below where a Husqvarna owner has tried several approaches:

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/lawn-care-landscaping/25509-striping-kit.html

I tryied a strip of bed mat results weren't very good so I made another 3 inch pcv end caps sand and steel brackets so far it's working good

ken helton said:

I tryied a strip of bed mat results weren't very good so I made another 3 inch pcv end caps sand and steel brackets so far it's working good

View attachment 22079



View attachment 22080

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If you could fill that PCV pipe with some cheap bagged concrete I'll bet it would work even better than with the weight of sand!! GOOD idea, BTW!!!

Yeah I thought that too but I glued it shut!

Got some chains? Tire chains? I dragged some tire chains behind my Murray and it left beautiful stripes. I just zip tied it to the mower should be same concept here I always see tire chains at good will for 10$

exotion said:

Got some chains? Tire chains? I dragged some tire chains behind my Murray and it left beautiful stripes. I just zip tied it to the mower should be same concept here I always see tire chains at good will for 10$

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Sounds like a good idea
But with my luck
I'd lose a chain and hit it with the mower.......
But this is probably the route I'll go ..........

samot said:

Sounds like a good idea
But with my luck
I'd lose a chain and hit it with the mower.......
But this is probably the route I'll go ..........

Click to expand...

Send us some pictures after you mow. My wife makes me stripe our yard too, so I know how it is. Momma gets what momma wants. If she ain't happy, no one is happy.

how is that B&S engine performing?

I redesigned the roller here's the results







I'm proud of tithe way it turned out

Stripes look good.

As far as the B&S engine ....
Haven't had one issue.
Still under 50 hrs tho too......
But I've slowly been mowing the pasture now too ...
Which reminds me ......
I've never received any warranty paper work back on my bad boy ?
Ima call bad boy direct today find out about my extended warranty.